i really have no words

[lovesduckies]

my ducks aren't molting right now..

we got the door fixed. something went under it. i am going to guess a raccoon. i really hate raccoons.. i used to think they were cute.. yeah not so much anymore. yes my babies can fly.. i wanted them to be able to escape an attack is possible but didn't want them to sly off so i did not clip their wings and had them in roofed pens which i thought were secure. i am hoping they are now. i do not live in town. my neighbors have a horse.. the others have chickens.. and the ones behind me do have dogs but i have already had a chat with them about the last duck and she has my number in case anything were to happen. i went to the neighbors with horses 2 houses down because they have scovies too, but they didn't answer. i hear we have possum, raccoon, and coyotes here. i have only lived here since the end of april so a little over a month. like i said something broke in, like pulled the wire from the nail that held it to the wood. a highly doubt a duck could break that and i tried to convince my dad of that. he thinks she escaped. from what i hear coons are pretty smart soo i blame the coons.

 

[PlumTuckered]

oh noooooooo! Hon I'm so sorry to read this

I hope she was able to fly away from the danger and is hiding somewhere.

It does sound like a coon did the damage to your pen. We have lots of them here, along with possum and coyote, most of the time my 4 dogs keep them driven off or kill them if they get close to our yards and pens. We've had to shoot a few as well.

I feel your heart ache and I'm terribly sorry you're going through this

Michelle

 

[DKPoultry]

So sorry to hear about your duckies

Time to start setting the traps? We had been loosing chickens like crazy last year. We set up the live traps and ended up trapping 4 opossums and several feral cats. We think the opossum were the cause of the deaths. They were pulling chickens through the wire of their coop and when we had them in a dog kennel were taking them out over the top of the kennel, through the netting that was covering it. Then a couple months ago we has a another chicken death and saw the raccoon tracks out in the goat pasture. Soooo... traps again. We have a lot of sitting ducks at our place *pun intended* that attract all sorts of predators. Hope you can take care of the issue before losing anyone else.

 

[lovesduckies]

Thanks. PlumTuckered.. It was my girl who looked exactly like your scooter

I'm so devistated and I feel like a bad ducky mommy. I could sleep at all last night. I jumped up and ran to the window every time I heard a noise.. Even though my boyfriend fixed the pen I'm still freaked out. I'm at school and really not wanting to be here cuz I feel like I need to be home.

I thought about getting traps. I told my boyfriend if I see anything near the pens its dead. I really think I might invest in a BB gun for a just in case. I also thought about getting a goose. I hear they make good guard dogs and will honk loud if anything is coming or isn't right. Will a goose live peacefully with ducks? Or should I make a new pen? I know duckyfromoz has a max (goose) but not sure if max is penned with her duckies. If I do get one, its going to take A LOT of convincing. My parents aren't keen on geese. I need to do something!

 

[duckyfromoz]

Max does live with the ducks- so does the younger gosling Ron. Max is a great protector and very vocal as well. If your mom is still worried about them being mean- tell her that hand raised geese can be just as nice as ducks at times. Get her on facebook and lookup some of the "goose" people on there. I can give you a few names - people that even keep house geese. It may not be enough to keep the predators away completely- but it would give them all a better chance if an alarm is raised when something does come around.

If it was me I would have most likely slept outside last night. I lost a duck a few years ago to a feral cat- but I heard a commotion and went out straight away- Poor Charlie had a broken neck- only a single drop of blood on his neck. He dies in my arms. I lost some ducklings about 10 years ago to a dingo- that was a horrible day. And it was a common thing growing up on the farm sadly- including geese - it is something you can never get used to.

 

[PlumTuckered]

Sweetie, you are NOT a bad duck Mamma!!! I understand your pain, I still find myself looking in the woods for Scooter and watching the pond to see if she came home but deep inside I don't think I'll ever see her again, it's been so long since she vanished. I'm not giving up hope for your darling Gal, I pray she's hidden very safe somewhere on a little nest of eggs to surprise you with.
I'm glad your boyfriend fixed the pen for you.

A couple of weeks ago I went to my best friends in Mississippi for a few days and the last night I was gone my Husband put the ducks to bed but didn't do a head count, the next day when I got home he said that my Mallard Drake and my Jumbo Pekin Gal were nowhere to be seen and he couldn't recall seeing them the night before. I did a walk around down to the pond and into the woods and all the way back up to the house and duck pen..all I found was 2 piles of my Mallard boy's belly feathers and they were about 15 feet from the duck pen, I figure him and my Jumbo came up to the pen after my husband had shut it all up. No sign of my Jumbo Pekin gal, no feathers, no body but there's been no sign of her at all since I got home so I figure whatever got Max got her too. My regular Pekin Gal has one of my Jumbo Gal's eggs under her and I hope hope hope it's fertile and hatches. My Jumbo gal was my first Pekin , shoot she was the first duck I ever had...so sad not to hear her quacking at me in the morning. My remaining 3 Mallards are all girls and they spent a few days wandering around looking for Max. The only other drakes I have are my 2 scovie boys but they're only 12 weeks old so the girls will all get a bit of a break now. Losing them is the hardest part of loving them, but we have to thankful for the time, even if short, that our lives were blessed with them.

Sending you big virtual hugs Hon!

Michelle

 

[lovesduckies]

Duckie I'm like 99% sure she's friends with Howard. I have told her time and time again. Maybe you should talk to her lol. Duckie keeps saying he wants a goose. I'm serious he nods his head. I finally got ahold of someone and duckie is getting 2 pekin girls on Sunday so that should be a fun day and when my mom comes home I might be going to the swap meet to get some ducklings and a goose.

PlumTuckered.. I'm so sorry! I wish I could give you a hug too. You made me cry! I just got off the phone with my dad cuz I wanted him to check on the babies for me and he said a part of loving them is losing them. A duck shouldn't live for a year.. They should live a long healthy fun full life! I still feel so horrible!

 

[dawnsglory]

So sorry about them missing. I just posted a question as to when they can go to the lake by themselves. Guess this answered my question. Such a risk of something happening.

 

[DaftaboutDucks]

So sorry lovesduckies,

We have 2 goslings to help with the early warning system. I've read and believe that if you handle & cuddle and give them treats they will be easy to manage and be good geese. Just like dogs....if the owner doesn't treat them right they turn out to be nasty dogs. We lost our only Rouen duckling Lucky, last year to a hawk. Again,very sorry for your loss.

 

[lovesduckies]

Quote:
i have heard that too. we shall see.. ducky needs to talk to my mom lol